Duke biologist, blogger on expedition

BEAUFORT — A Duke Marine Lab researcher is playing the role of Charles Darwin on an oceanographic cruise off the coast of Brazil.

Kevin Zelnio, a blogger and marine biologist who works with Marine Lab Director Cindy Van Dover, is aboard a twin-masted tall ship as the science officer and blogger-in-residence during an expedition that lasts through Wednesday.

Zelnio, who regularly blogs from “Deep Sea News” is identifying marine organisms and running DNA extractions on them as they are pulled aboard by the Brazilian tall ship Tocorimé off the coast of Paraty, Brazil. He’s also blogging at deepseanews.com and updating Twitter as @kzelnio.

The expedition is a feasibility study by the HMS Beagle Project, which aims to rebuild the ship Darwin sailed on in a five-year, round-the-world voyage of exploration. The new ship will be outfitted for modern oceanographic science for both research and education.

Viewers can follow Zelnio’s progress on his blog, deepseanews.com, and via Twitter feeds with the hash tag #beagleinbrazil

Talbott to speak in Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL — Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution and a former deputy secretary of state, will speak Thursday at UNC Chapel Hill.

Talbott, who served during the Clinton administration, will discuss “Obama and the World,” an analysis of the international challenges the president is facing, how he’s coping with them and what it all means for the future of American security and foreign policy. The free public lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center.

A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow.

Duke law gathers to honor Everett

DURHAM — Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Duke Law School will gather Thursday to honor the late Robinson Everett, a longtime professor and 1959 graduate of Duke Law who died June 12.

The memorial event begins at 4 p.m. and is open to the public. It will be held in the Law School’s Star Commons, on the corner of Towerview Road and Science Drive. Scheduled to speak are Duke Law Dean David Levi, professors Scott Silliman, Madeline Morris, William Reppy and Clark Havighurst; Judge James Dever and James Markham, an assistant professor of law at UNC.

One of the country’s most prominent and respected authorities on military justice, Everett served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces for 10 years as chief judge. His work as counsel to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the 1960s helped lead to legislation that modernized the U.S. military court system.

Everett was on the Duke Law faculty for 51 years, teaching courses in military justice, criminal law, sentencing and criminal procedure. He taught his last class during spring 2009.

Pendleton named director

DURHAM — Linwood Pendleton has been appointed director of ocean and coastal policy at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

He will be based at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort.

Before joining the Nicholas Institute, Pendleton was senior fellow and director of economic research at The Ocean Foundation in Washington, D.C., and director of the Coastal Ocean Values Center in North Sandwich, N.H.

An expert on marine and coastal economics, he is widely cited for his use of empirical methods to understand the effects of environmental change on economic uses of the ocean. He has published numerous studies on coastal and marine recreation in the United States and Caribbean, the historic purse seine fishery of southern California, marine fisheries in Panama and Brazil, and the effects of climate change on recreational fishing in New England.

Purdue appoints McMurray

DURHAM — Gov. Beverly Purdue has appointed Harvey McMurray, chairman of the department of criminal justice at North Carolina Central University, to the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission.

Created in 1990, the commission makes recommendations to the General Assembly for the modification of sentencing laws and policies, and related criminal justice matters.

McMurray’s appointment expires June 30, 2011.

— Compiled by Neil Offen